Wednesday, July 22, 2009

DHS Protect- 3D



This is an awesome 3D image that attests to the DHS ability to determine the line of sight and distance based on elevation and environmental factors using GIS. I enjoyed using ArcScene to create this map. I encountered a problem with steps 10 & 12. I could not get the ortho image to appear on top of the elevation. I deleted the ortho layer and added it back a couple of times and it appeared as it should have. Not exactly sure what I did wrong or right for that matter, but it worked.

DHS Protect


This map shows the Alta Bates Medical Center buffered by 500 feet within the 3 mile Hospital buffer near the Memorial Stadium. Ingrss and Egress routes were selected from the transportation layer and points were created at the places where advanced security should be placed. The only problem I encountered with making this map is I could not get the roads to show without all of the roads appearing in the legend. Turning off the transportation layer only removed all roads from the legend. So, I had to settle for the labeled points. Boring!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Homeland Security


This is an exported image of landmarks that are significant to the DHS. These buildings and facilities are important because they either hold large numbers of people or contain components critical to essential infrastructure. This map contains many layers, and thanks to MJ saved time and avoided several potential problems. Thanks MJ!

Homeland Security

This is a basemap of DHS Urban Area in California. This map shows a 10 mile buffer beyond the BAUAs boundary. Select by location was used to remove the counties that did not intersect with our region of study.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009



This map shows a few of the data needed in order to begin an analysis on helping Houston determine if its resources are properly allocated and effective against current crime patterns. This map was fairly easy to create but it took an horrendous amount of time to create due to the VM being soooooo slow. Just looking at it now, I believe I forgot to put in the census tracts. Oops! Either way one can get the general idea of the purpose of a basemap and how critical it is in beginning to build upon.

Spatial Locations of Police and Houston's Crime Incidents



This map shows the police stations and their proximity to crime in the City of Houston. To get the proximity, a buffer was applied at three different fixed distances after each crime was connected by a spatial join to each police station. I had to attempt this map twice not only because of the VM issue but also because the directions were oftentimes unclear and seemingly missing some steps. The outcome of this map really shows where Houston needs more resources based on the proximity of crime it is dealing with.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Site Selection for Home in Maricopa County, Arizona

Homing in on Maricopa County, Arizona is a base map showing places, federal land and Indian reservations. This map was relatively easy to create because the data was already available. Once the project was documented and the environments set, it was a matter od adding the data and symbolizing it appropriately.